SIMPLE THINGS

Last weekend my parents came to visit. I was so excited to see them, even though it was a short visit. We had a blast, and we certainly kept busy...

Saturday brought nice weather, so we headed to Luzern to wander for the day.

On Luzern's Chapel Bridge, which dates back to the 14th century (although parts have been rebuilt after a fire).

The Chapel Bridge

If you look closely, you can see my parents waving from the bridge. I love when people humor me.

On Sunday, after a relaxing breakfast, we hopped on a train and headed to Alpnachstad, a small village at the base of Mount Pilatus. From there we boarded the world's steepest cogwheel railway to head up the mountain, where a Christmas market awaited us.

This is the cogwheel railway, although from this angle you can't tell how steep it gets.

Although the weather had been nice so far, the constant clouds had marred some of Switzerland's beauty. But as soon as you got above the cloudline...

Amazing.Absolutely incredible views.Snow-topped mountains and a blanket of clouds in every direction. It was breathtaking.People were snapping pictures left and right, and waving to the people willing to get up early enough to hike the whole thing.

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be sent to Prague for a Google Apps for Education conference. We arrived on Friday and spent our weekend attending sessions, messing around with Google apps, and networking with other teachers and tech specialists from international schools around the world.

Due to agreeable timing, this conference backed up to our fall break, so I was able to stay a few extra days. My very favorite way of exploring a city on the first day is to abandon plans, hide the map, and just wander. Sure, you may miss some of the big sights, but you do tend to pay more attention to the subtler aspects of a city, and you definitely run across some interesting sights...

One day, during my wanderings, I came upon a small side street off of the main square.

Straight ahead was a chocolate factory. Yum.

To my left, there were two guys making candy. I've never seen hard candy being made, and I was fascinated by how this giant, stringy mess became tiny, hard candy with intricate designs in the middle. I decided to stay and watch.

After it had been sufficiently stretched, he transferred it to the table, so I went inside for a better look. They already had some green that they had shaped into triangular prisms, and now they started putting them together, although I couldn't initially tell what they were trying to make.

Eventually it started to take shape, but I still had no idea how they were going to make that giant log into those tiny bits.